What is the Brother MFC-J6520DW?

There’s an increasing trend in the SOHO inkjet all-in-one market to move from A4 as the maximum paper size for printing, to the double-size, A3. Brother was at the forefront of that move and with the introduction of its landscape A4 print engine last year, made it much easier to build dual-size printers, like the MFC-J6520DW.

Brother MFC-J6520DW - Design and Features

The big thing about the MFC-J6520DW is its small price. At just under £150 it offers the large format to many small and home (SOHO) businesses. Liveried in black and ice white, the clean lines of the machine look less tank-like than some of Brother’s previous A3 printers too.

The cover to the raised left-hand section of the top folds over to become the feed to the 20-sheet ADF and, at the front, the control panel swings out to a convenient angle. It’s a touchscreen with a 68mm LCD and a series of touch buttons, including a number pad for fax dialling. It’s reasonably responsive, though the screen surface is quite flexible to the touch, which is a little disconcerting.

The main paper tray feels rather flimsy, particularly when it’s extended to take A3 paper, but it’s good that both the tray and its cover extend so that, if you only print A3 occasionally, you can reduce the footprint of the machine by having the tray flush with the machine’s front. There’s a single sheet feed at the back of the printer, too.

Brother MFC-J6520DW - Connections and Cartridges

There are three ways of connecting to this printer: USB, 10/100 Ethernet network and wireless. We chose wireless, as we always do given the option, but had trouble getting the machine to recognise our Netgear router via WPS setup. In the end, we had to temporarily connect the machine via USB; after that, it worked fine.

SEE ALSO: Kyocera ECOSYS M2030dnThe four ink cartridges, which are available in two capacities, slide in behind the cover at the right end of the front panel and are very easy to maintain, while a PictBridge-compatible USB socket and SD and MemoryStick slots are provided behind an equivalent cover at its left end.